HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-.After the excitement. And now what next? The services and the feasts are over; the temple door is closed; the tables are taken down; the musical instru• ments are laid aside in their places; the programme has been completed-the extended programme, What now shall that excited, enthusiastic multitude do? 'l'here is- I. THE PECULIAR PERIL OF 'l'HE HOUR. There is no hour of greater moral danger- such is our human nature-than that immediately following great religious excitement. The leaders of revivals are well aware that this is so. There comes a certain reaction of the soul, a readiness to give way to other and to unworthy impulses; the highly strung system seeks relaxation, and becomes relaxed, and that is often found to be the enemy's opportunity; then he can sometimes find a footing, and do his deadly work. Hence the need for wisdom, and hence- H. THE NECESSITY FOB ACTION. When " all this was finished," when there was the danger of some kind of reaction and wrong-doing, all Israel went out "and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves," etc. 'l'his was something done in accordance with their religious convictions ; it was action along the line of their new devotedness to Jehovah. It was rightful action, and, as such, it was timely, and it was serviceable, Whenever there is any kind of danger, do something that is right; get to some useful work. It may not be of the highest kind; it may not be pr.rticularly meritorious or eminently useful; but so that it is rightful action of some kind, it is well. Peril passes off in labour, in wholesome exertion. If a man is doing anything which can be honestly considered by him to be done unto the Lord, he is in the way of safety and of wisdom. III. '!'HE PIETY OF REMOVAL. Ordinarily we can show our spirit of obedience by F-hunning the evil thing; by avoiding it; by "turning from it and pr.ssing away" (Prov. iv. 15), or simply by declining to touch it. Bnt there are times and cases when this does not suffice; when our wisdom is not merely to shut the eye or to tighten the hand, but to bring the axe and to smite to the ground, and to break in pieces. Such was the wisdom of Israel iu regard to all images, altars, groves, "high places." Their existence was too strong a temptation for those times; true piety was shown in their abolition, in sweeping them from sight, in clearing the temptation wholly frot..1 the view. Such is often our wisdom, our piety now. 'l'he wine-cup must be banished from the table, and even from the house. The cards must be thrown into the fire; the favourite amusement must be kepL well out of reach. Tbere are those-perhaps they are more numerous than is supposed-whose devotion to their Master is most wisely shown by an net of abolition; by placing beyond access the temptation that has again and again proved to be too strong for them. The idol must not even be kept in the cabinet; it must be broken in pieces. IV. 'l'HE WISDOM OF THOROUGHNESS IN ALL DESTRUCTIVE SERVICE. They went OD their way with their work of destruction, "until they bad utterly destroyed them all." To leave any of those objects at all would have been like leaving weeds iu the soil ; they needed to be thoroughly uprooted. For the net of destruction to be of any lasting virtue, it was essential that it should be complete. If we are bent on destroying any vice in our nature, or ridding ourselves of any barmfol habit in our life, the ouly thing we t:an do is to extirpate utterly that which is wrong; to sweep it away without reserve• 3i6 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. (c1t. x~xr. 1-21.
to lay the axe to the root of the "evil tree." It is useless to out weeds ; they must bo torn ont of the ~C1il. Y. THE HOUR FOR BAORIFICE IN CHRISTIAN SERVICE. There no doubt went to the creation of these images and alta.rs much that was valuable in its way. '1.'here had been expended on them labour, skill, affection, piety (after its kind). There were connected with them some old and, probably, some tender domestio associations. But v,bile they were thus costly, they must go down and disappear in the interest of truth and pure relii::ion. Their costliness must not save them when they stood in the way of the nation's true piety and real prosperity. Nor may the costliness of any treasure we possess save it from removal from before our eyes, if it sta.nd (1) between us and our Master; (2) between us and our moral and spiritual integrity; (3) between us and our usefulness; (4) between us and eternal life. "If thy right eye offend thee, plnck it out, and cast it from thee," etc.-C.